Hall Leaves Behind Humble Beginnings For A Fresh Start

May 19, 1986|By Jerry Greene of The Sentinel Staff

''Modest'' hardly describes the beginnings of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. At one point in its history, the ''Hall'' consisted of a cardboard box locked away in the confines of the Jacksonville Coliseum.

The contents of that cardboard box were not what you would expect, either. When the box was retrieved, it contained a leather football helmet that belonged to Walter Mayberry and an assortment of jockstraps.

Mayberry's helmet made sense. He is one of the 91 members of the Hall of Fame. No explanation for the other articles was given other than they were symbolic of athletic support -- and they are not on display today.

The ranks of heroes -- male, female and animal (Needles) -- swells to 96 tonight when five newcomers will be inducted at the 14th annual Hall of Fame Banquet, which is being held at Marriott's new Orlando World Center.

Entering the contemporary ranks of the Hall are: baseball's Hal McRae, auto racing's Bobby Allison, swimming's Rowdy Gaines and baseball's Ron Fraser. Also being inducted as an ''old-timer'' is former Florida State University football coach Tom Nugent.

In addition those at the banquet will recognize and honor New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden as Florida's Pro Athlete of the Year and University of Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell as Amateur Athlete of the Year.

While the banquet is in its 14th year, the Hall itself began 28 years ago. The Hall was that cardboard box in the Jacksonville Coliseum until 1975, when it moved to a building at Cypress Gardens. The display was forced to relocate this year because Cypress Gardens needed the building it occupied for its own activities.

A reopening of the Hall of Fame took place Friday at the Mystery Fun House, which has donated the rear portion of its ''game room'' facility for the displays.

Whether the Mystery Fun House will become the permanent site for the Hall of Fame will be decided later this year.

Admittedly the ''Florida Sports Hall of Fame -- and Game Room'' seems like an odd combination. But the location has many factors in its favor.

No admission is charged for viewing the Hall of Fame, and the Mystery Fun House does not require interested viewers to make any purchase in order to walk through the displays. And being located in the heart of Orlando's ''tourist center'' is hard to beat.

In addition Jackie Farwell, general manager of the Mystery Fun House, makes an important point about the current location: ''One of the nice things is that you couldn't have a better place for kids to be exposed to the Hall. Something in the Hall might be the spark that ignites a fire in some youngster to pursue sports instead of less advantageous paths through life.''

And the inspirational material is there, now filling about 70 large display cases instead of one cardboard box.

Just a sampling of the names, from ocean racing's Don Aronow to golf's and track's Babe Zaharias, evoke memories of Florida's proud place in the world of sports. The first display seen is that of Arnold Palmer's, while others include Rick Barry, Bobby Bowden, Dave Cowens, Angelo Dundee, Chris Evert Lloyd, Jake Gaither, Steve Garvey, Artis Gilmore, Bob Griese, Bill Hartack, Ted Hendricks, Deacon Jones, Al Lang, Larry Little and Bill Peterson.

And, as they say, many more.

Also we must not forget Needles. Inductees into the Hall of Fame are voted upon by members of both the state's sports writers' and broadcasters' associations. As far as either group knows, Needles is the only horse in any state sports hall of fame.

In almost all cases, the displays include some personal memento from the heroes to symbolize their accomplishments. From a 3-wood of Palmer's to a tennis dress worn by Lloyd, these displays can provide the viewers with memories of their favorite stars out of Florida's sports history.

One odd exception is the display case for Jack Nicklaus. Despite numerous entreaties to his office for something to represent his brilliant career, Nicklaus never has replied. Consequently, the case is filled with photos of Nicklaus -- and the Hall of Fame trophy that he never has accepted.

One article of clothing (other than the mysterious jockstraps) donated to the Hall has been lost -- perhaps on purpose.

In 1977 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers donated jersey No. 76, belonging to their first MVP, nose tackle Dave Pear. The problem was that Pear was not a member of the Hall and, at the time, the Bucs had yet to win a football game.

Pear's jersey never was displayed. As for its location now, the best guess is that it is in a cardboard box at Cypress Gardens. If the Bucs desire, they can think of it as a symbol of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame's more than humble beginnings.